Modesty

 Deut. 22:5"A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God." 

my sweet Jewel at the zoo

I have done quite a bit of research on this topic, and what this verse actually said is a woman must not put on military clothing. While one of the reasons is because she will lose her femininity, but the main point behind this verse is that women should not be in a role that God intended for a man (and men should not be in a role God intended for a woman).  


 I Tim 2:9-10 "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works."


The words "modest apparel" means an orderly feminine garment. It is also referring to the fashion of that time when women would wear a lot of jewelry, even putting gold in their hair. These verses remind us that we are to be the Proverbs 31 woman who enjoys a good bargain, and will travel far to save her family money, she does not spend their money on expensive frivolous items. It is difficult in todays society where we want to keep up with fashion (and I am not saying that that is wrong), just hard when you are trying to be good stewards of the finances that God has given us (I will also add it is difficult to be modest as well). We are to dress in a way that is clean, well kept, feminine, and not drawing attention to ourselves.


As women, we are to pray for direction from God, not only for ourselves, but also for our husbands. I will be honest I have gone back and forth with the issue of wearing dress/skirts only or modest pants. My husband says certain pants and long enough shorts are appropriate. God tells me to submit to my husband, so while I can quietly pray for peace about that decision, I can also pray for peace for my husband as well. If your husband thinks that dresses/skirts only are what is right for your family then that is what you should wear. As a daughter of a King, we should adorn (in apparel and spirit) ourselves like one. We have a higher calling, and we need to answer.

Week 10

This week the baby is the size of a prune according to The Bump. (Please disregard the word fetus in the picture, a baby is a baby from the moment of conception) Our family enjoys a tangible example of how the baby is growing. I must say I was enjoying the "only morning sickness in the morning" that I told you about in week 8, but it has come in full swing 24/7. I have a sweet friend, who has been pregnant five times so she knows a thing or two, who told me about something wonderful. I had been drinking as much water as I could, but mostly Sprite was what could help. Until one day this past week, I will write about that later, when it peaked and she suggested ice cold water with lemon. Oh Wow! It helps so much, a great benefit of drinking it from sun-up to sun-up, is not getting dehydrated from too much Sprite. Now if I could just keep my little ones fingers out of my drink, they love to eat lemons. On the bright side I only have a couple more weeks until it should end. Right now the big excitement is when will we find out who will be out numbered, since we have one of each. My sweet James has been praying for "a boy to play trucks with." Jewel will say something about the baby when reminded but since she is only 20 months old we understand. We are just excited about the new member of our family, and despite my confusing craving we are enjoying each day as this new gift grows :)

Menu for April 23-29

This is our menu for the next week. I will list what our options are for the three meals, because they will not be set for a specific day. My "preggie brain" (and stomach), sometimes decide we want something different. I hope this give you an idea of what you can make from the groceries that I purchased.

Breakfast:
French Toast
Eggs and Bacon
Sausage, Biscuits, and Gravy
Pancakes
Grits
Cereal
Bagels/Toast

Lunch:
Salad
Hot Dogs
Quesadillas
Leftovers
Fruit/Veggies/Cheese
Cereal
Mac and Cheese (homemade)
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Breakfast
Cowboy Casserole

Dinner:
Chili
Kabobs, mashed potatoes, purple hull peas
Teriyaki Pork Chops, Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans
Hamburgers, French Fries (baked), Salad
BBQ Chicken, Rice and Black Beans, Corn
Roast, Carrots, Rice, Potatoes
Leftover Loaded Baked Potatoes

There are several options for lunch because I never know what my kids may want and lunch time is when they are allowed to choose what they eat. (Believe it or not they choose the Fruit/Veggie/Cheese plate most of the time.) Also, let me explain the Leftover Loaded Baked Potatoes; one night a week if we seem to have a lot of leftovers I will make baked potatoes. On this night you can put whatever leftovers you want on your baked potatoes. It works well if it is a fun family night, we have a "picnic" and watch a movie. I hope this gives you some ideas for your week :)

Feeding a family of 4 on $250 a month

I mentioned yesterday that I feed our growing family of 4 on $250 a month. Before I give you an idea of our monthly menu, I want to tell you were I shop. I shop at 2 different stores 1- Sam's- this store for bulk items (mostly toiletries, freezer items, and produce) 2- Food Outlet- this is a discount store (similar to Aldi or Save-A-Lot) near our home, where you purchase items at cost plus 10%. I purchase a huge boxes toilet paper, paper towels, and paper plates in bulk, and by doing so I only have to purchase these items every 3 months. Let me add in that we purchase the paper plates to cut down on how often we use our dishwasher, by using paper we are able to run our dishwasher every 2-3 days, which cuts down on our power bill.
 Here is what my list looks like from each store:
Sam's- $138
All Purpose Flour (10lbs)      
Bread Flour
Whole Wheat Flour
Sugar
Paper Plates            
Toilet Paper            
Paper Towels          
Apples
Oranges
Strawberries
French Fries
Turkey Bacon
Chicken Nuggets
Veggie Straws
Chicken
Soy Milk

Food Outlet- $112
Ground Beef
Steak
Sausage
Roast
Pork Loin
Ball Park Angus Beef Hot dogs
Hamburger Buns
Hot dog Buns
Bagels
Pretzels
Popcorn
Taco Shells
Frozen pizzas
Spaghetti Sauce
Juice
Bananas
Dry Beans
Pasta
Gravy Mixes
Canned tomatoes
Tomatoes
Romaine Lettuce
Carrots
Onions
Potatoes
Celery
Grapes
Frozen veggie mix
Frozen Lima Beans
Sweet Tea
Dish Soap
Vinegar

I rounded up to the nearest dollar, but you can get an idea of what we buy. We make our own bead, cookies, granola bars, pizza, ice cream, other various snacks, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and cleaning supplies. We are not hungry (well I am most of the time, but pregnancy will do that to you). We drink water, sweet tea, juice, soy milk, and sometimes we will buy cokes. This next week I will post what our menu looks like. I hope I have been some help.

Grocery Budget

We only spend about $250 per month on groceries for our family of four (going on five). This includes all paper products and toiletries. I am told that it is a very modest budget. It  is the time of month when I go grocery shopping and I was wondering how interested anyone would be in how we manage on such a modest budget. I am aware some people manage on even less. I want to coupon, but one of the stores I go to does not allow you to use them. I use home cooking, love, filling items, and creativity. We only spend about $80 a month eating out, so do not think that is how it works. I would love to share if anyone would be interested?

Week 8~ Morning Sickness

I may not be the best person to write on this subject since I am not a "puker", I just battled severe, all day long nausea, with my first two. This time around is a little different. Every morning I wake up to extreme nausea and it takes me about 30-45 minutes to eat my breakfast. I have learned if I can hold out until (and by that I mean keep from vomiting) until 10:00 am, a switch turns off and I am good for the rest of the day, unless I smell something that "stinks". I have heard (because you know everyone has advice when you are pregnant) and read that protein, ginger ale, coke, peppermint, ginger candy, crackers, and so on can help. I will tell you a few things that have helped me.

• Protein- A protein rich dinner has helped me to not me as sick when I first wake up. I try to eat meat and beans with dinner (both of which sound great to me these days).
• Coke- Only a few seem to settle my stomach, and a few seem to set it off. You may have to try a few before you find one that works for you.
• Candy- Peppermint works for me this time, but not in the past. There are several maternity stores as well as websites that offer anti-nausea candy that really does work. Preggie Pop Drops are amazing (my husband even tried them one day when he was not feeling good, and he loves them).
• Small meals- They really do work! I find if I eat several small meals it helps keep me from getting sick, and as a bonus helps my energy stay up as well.

Really, the truth is that every pregnancy is different. All three of mine have been different, so you just have to try things that work for you. Unfortunately you may be a little miserable until you do. My doctor gave me the best advice (after he laughed at me when I told him I was craving Buffalo Chicken), he said "Eat whatever sounds good." I love that advice, in moderation of course ;) I still have about 4-5 weeks of this so I may have to update my advice.

I think I am ready to share.....

I have not blogged in a while, and I honestly had no desire to. In late December I was diagnosed with Anxiety and Depression. I have dealt with it for years and years. I always told myself "Your a Christian, if you are depressed then I must be to far from God." I am not saying that it was not good for me to grow closer to God (we should be continually growing closer to Him), but I am saying that my walk was not the problem. I have learned that Depression and Anxiety (or one or the other) are chemical problems, not "heart" problems. Christians can have depression too! It simply means my brain is not producing enough of a chemical I needed to function. It was a small break down that finally caused my sweet husband to lovingly convince me it was time to get some help. I am beginning to understand that it is nothing to be ashamed of and many more people have it than you would think. A very sweet doctor kindly explained what was wrong and how my medicine would help. My family began noticing a difference in my in just a couple of weeks, but it took me about a month (which is average). I am grateful to be taking the lowest dose, that is all I needed, some people need more. I am hoping that anyone who has had some struggles in this area to get help it is not a weakness, or something to be ashamed of. If you had stomach problems you would go to the doctor and be prescribed medicine, this is no different. I will say, I have made to decision, for the sake of my baby, I am not taking my medicine at this time. It is a personal decision and my doctor is fine with it. We both understand that I may need it later on, and we will weigh the pros and cons at that time. Can I tell I am not on it? Yes. Do I think I need it now? Yes. Are some days a struggle? Yes. When I have a difficult day I have a wonderful supportive husband who helps me get up and keep on, but like any medical problem you take it one day at a time. It is not easy to admit there is a problem, no one likes to ask for help, but it is a good thing once you get the help you need.

I'm back

I will tell you where I have been in a later post. I will need a lot of time to explain, and I will probably continue to post on the subject even now and then. To let you in on what has been going on the past few weeks though, we are expecting baby #3! This is a picture taken today at 7weeks and 2 days. We are very excited about this journey. I have heard many times that two is the hardest number of children to have, now I have my helper (James), and we are getting more organized I am hoping it will be a little easier when this baby arrives. There will also be a bigger gap between this one and Jewel, a 26 month gap, which is a big difference from the 17 months between James and Jewel.
I am looking forward to sharing this pregnancy on here. It is going to be interesting to see if I have any pre-term labor (in and out of the hospital with James), high blood pressure (close to having preeclampsia with Jewel), and see how I handle my second c-section. I am also excited to see if i actually make it to my scheduled c-section, which will be a week before my due date on November 24. Both James and Jewel came at 38 weeks, so we will see. We heard the heart beat today which is always a beautiful sound, 138 beats per minute. We do have names picked out and they are names from family members like James (first name from my husband's grandfather and his middle from my cousin) and Jewel (first name from my mother and middle from my husband's grandmother). We will share the name when we know the gender of the baby. James has been praying for a boy to play trucks with, I know God hears his prayers, so we will see. I am hoping to update every few days, so I can share our adventure.